Woke up to snow! So of course I played hooky for a bit. Started off with blueberry pancakes while Jack Johnson sang about banana pancakes. Not quite enough snow for sledding, but Andrea and the girls and I had an epic snowball fight with Nick and Nathan, plus dogs. Then made some coffee to warm my bones, and headed off to work. Every day should start this pleasantly! :P
9.5 Flight of the Conchords
I feel irresponsible for not pumping this a long time ago. It’s on season 2 now, and worth finding all the old S1 episodes (and old albums and the original BBC radio show and youtube goodies and…) if you have any appetite for beautifully droll humor or oldskool casio keyboard voices. Mine is insatiable.
Pirates everywhere!
The girls and I gave Andrea the Pirates’ Cove board game for Christmas, and it’s turned out to be great fun. In the first game, we teamed up to go up against the Flying Dutchman, with cannons that “heal” every firing volley, and we managed to sink her! Wren loves the Pirates of the Carribean movies, and she continued the theme on her birthday – everyone came dressed up as a pirate! We burned the edges of the invitations, the sign on the door (“Beware There Be Pirates!”), and everything else we could think of. We served rum (ok, it was really lemonade). I made a treasure map that had the girls running around the house, and included a Piratey Perplexor Puzzle (say that three times fast). And a couple days later, on the actual day of her birthday, she got another pirate board game, Dead Man’s Treasure, which is “easy to learn but difficult to master”, and the Pirates of the Carribean game for the Wii, so we could swashbuckle all day long – it uses a fun linear cinematic style of play. ARRRR!
Tommy and Mindy tie the knot
My nephew Tommy tied the knot with his girlfriend Mindy this weekend in West Chester, PA. We had a blast getting together with everyone right before the holidays – Ma and Pa were there, and brother Dan, Val, Bailey, Corey, Niki, Tammy and Diane, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Jeanne, Tommy’s friend Colin, etc. – it’s been a long time since that whole group has been in one place. We drove up through awful traffic on Thursday, but Tommy had a worse travel story, missing his plane and doing lots of driving just to make it to his own wedding. But we all arrived safe and sound. While the bridal party had their rehearsal dinner, Andrea and the girls and I and my folks, headed to SuTao, a completely vegan Asian restaurant that had an entire buffet including desserts. We were all in the same nice Holiday Inn hotel Friday night, Dan and I hung out with Corey and the rest of the next generation for a few drinks and an overdue tech talk. Entertaining the wait staff with our antics kept us pretty busy Saturday morning. Then the wedding – downtown West Chester has that quaint charm, and it rolls on for blocks. The Catholic church was a beautiful stone building with gorgeous stained glass windows and an old worn hardwood floor. In between the wedding and the reception, we had a chance to grab a muffin and a coffee/tea/hot chocolate with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Jeanne. The reception was the highlight – on the Greystone Manor grounds – an old English-style manor that is reserved for special occasions. Instead of a large generic banquet hall, the catering took place throughout the manor, in all the nooks and crannies. Hord’erves were everywhere, drinks were served in the colder lower wing, while Andrea and the girls and Bailey and I had the main course next to a massive roaring fire. The caterer made us a special pesto meal with a wonderful glaze. Later there were chocolate-covered strawberries with coffee, and of course dancing. The girls showed off their moves! We did our best swing dancing, and everything else we could think of. We were up late again, ending up at the hotel bar with the younger gang. We had more fun at another hotel breakfast. We’re finally back home now, and we’re exhausted! CONGRATS TOMMY AND MINDY! :>
Reiley’s epic play
Reiley did a great job performing in a 2+ hour epic play at church over the weekend. The play was written by one of the leaders of Reiley’s acting troupe, and spanned the entire history of the Bible, CNN-style. Our friend Keith is another of the leaders and he designed the stage. Creativity flows!
If I ever get any time (ha!) I’ll try to post some video…
Holy Cat and Rat, it’s Finnigan and Hermes!
I can’t keep up. We got Apollo as a friend for Quincy when Orion passed away. Sadly Quincy followed recently. But they lived good long lives for rats. So youngster Apollo needed a buddy of course! The girls and I picked him up at the same PetSmart where we got Apollo – each store only holds one sex to make it easier to avoid babies everywhere. Hermes was the last one left of his litter, poor little shy guy. He’s still smaller than Apollo, so we don’t think he’s from the same litter. Still, chances are good that they’re brothers!
Meanwhile, kittens are everywhere out at Ms. Debbie’s stable. The girls (all THREE of them of course!) fell in love with one orange little fellow in particular. I couldn’t believe they wanted yet another pet – Andrea’s been going crazy keeping up with what we’ve got – so I insisted that if the girls were going to acquire yet another friend they would have to take over our farm first to earn it. And they stepped right up! They did a great job, splitting up all tasks between them – even taking over cleaning up of the worst messes (trust me it’s a daily occurrence around here!). Unfortunately, it wasn’t the safest environment for the kitties at the stable, so my 6-month “prove yourself” schedule got whittled down to 3 months, 1 week, and then 2 days! It’s rough being the heavy when you’re a softy! :P
By now, the kids are still going strong helping run things, and Finnigan is pretty much acclimated to all the other beasties. Life is good. :>
Sam likes Rock Band 2 (but NOT Guitar Hero)
I’ve known my buddy Sam since high school, but haven’t seen him for years – he went to Cali to produce video games years ago. But now he’s moved to town! He’s working on “serious” games – currently one that help kids with cancer remember to take their medication. Cool stuff.
He’s downtown and drives out to RTP to work, I’m in suburbia and drive downtown to work, so we’re crossing paths. But we’re trying to get together on Wednesday evenings at his place. This week he bought a second guitar and we played a few hours of Rock Band 2, which was long enough to get the hang of the medium setting pretty well. The vocals on hard are easy, too. Sammy had bad dealings with Activision (he’s got lots of awesome gaming industry stories), so it’s Rock Band, not Guitar Hero, punk!
We ran hard for Obama
The whole family dug in and ran hard to help get Obama elected.
Weekend before last: knocked on 90 doors, called 50
Saturday: knocked on 81 doors
Tuesday: knocked on 50+ doors, called 25
Great job crew! I am TIRED. :P The Dobbs are coming over soon. Time to relax and watch the numbers roll in…
Coaster Weekend
Andrea and I are coaster-lovers, and we’ve got two brand-new recruits, Wren and Reiley! These girls rode EVERY COASTER that Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, VA could throw at them! Each of their top 5 coasters is boss enough to have a mascot. Wren was tall enough to ride three of them, and she did! The Loch Ness Monster, The Big Bad Wolf, and Apollo’s Chariot all surpassed our expectations and had us wetting our pants. In addition, Reiley showed nerves of steel tackling the Griffin with Andrea and me – it’s rated as one of the top 5 in the US, with a 4g 205-ft STRAIGHT DROP. We have one left to hit when we return, the Alpengiest. WE ARE READY. :>
Bike route on Gmaps Pedometer
Here’s my current ride. On the ground it’s about 16.34 miles.